We learn from our mistakes, right?

I never really paid attention to local State Representative races. I've always been interested and paid attention to the bigger races and I've voted in most elections since I turned 18. But I never thought about the local races and to be honest, never really thought that they mattered much.

Cut to 2 years ago, right around this time of year. I was on the PTA here in Newmarket and we were in the very beginning stages of planning the first Spring Auction. A friend of a friend connected me to Adam Schroadter, who owns the Stone Church, one of the places we thought might participate.

Adam and I talked on the phone and had a nice chat. I told him some of my thoughts about the event we were planning and he was very gracious about listening to my ideas. During the conversation, he told me that he was running for State Representative and we discussed that briefly.

And so here he was - a nice guy - young, articulate, owner of the Stone Church. And I admit it, I voted for him.

The problem is that I never asked him about his stances on issues important to me, and that's my fault. I didn't think about it. I didn't think it mattered.

But it does matter.

I started to pay attention to what was happening in the Legislature during the past couple of years and I got very, very concerned.

Here are a few reasons I WON'T VOTE FOR ADAM SCHROADTER in November:

• He voted in favor of HB 217, which added the death of a fetus to the list of acceptable victims under the state murder statute.
• He supported HB 1264--a bill that would have effectively legalized discrimination against gay people.
• He voted in favor of the State's new Voucher-Tax Credit system that will only hurt Newmarket schools.
• He voted in favor of HB 1659 which required doctors to tell women that abortion causes breast cancer.
• He voted in favor of HB 536 which would make gun permits optional.
• He voted in favor of NH's new Voter ID law.
• And according to this article in seacoastonline, Adam was only 70.6% of the time--missing votes on some important bills.

Don't get me wrong, I think Adam is a nice guy and it's easy to look at him and think here's this young person who owns the Stone Church and seems OK. But if you care about public education, equality and choice--he is NOT the person to vote for in November.

Town Council Meeting recap

The main topic at last night's Town Council meeting was the Hydra proposal and I imagine that's why it was standing room only in the chambers.

A lot of people were angry that the public wasn't given the chance to speak, but personally I commend Mr. Nazarro for sticking to the clear agenda and not allowing public comment. This wasn't the first time, nor will it be the last, when the public has had to sit through a presentation and hold it's tongue. I applaud you for following the agenda, even in the face of a hostile crowd. (I also think that it was very gracious to allow the State Senators to speak, but question the grandstanding that brought them there in the first place.)

The problem, as I see it, is that there was a perception that the approval of the Hydra proposal was a foregone conclusion. There are people in town, on facebook, and in the audience last night that assumed the council was prepared to vote on the proposal and sign on the dotted line.

Many people in town are willing to jump on any hint of impropriety--let's face it, we all love a juicy scandal--and the first (or at least, most recent) interaction we had with Hydra was when Mr. Wright complained about "back-room deals." And just like that, the issue became about integrity instead of looking objectively at the claims made by Hydra and Dale Bishop.

But while facebook buzzed with questions/concerns/accusations and people wrote blog posts and letters to the editor, the Town Council continued it's due diligence. As it was said last night, the financial claims made by Hydra couldn't be completely ignored and the TC did the right thing by asking professionals to take a look at the science behind the claims. (Imagine the outrage if the Council had done nothing about this proposal--the facebook comments practically write themselves!)

Personally, I think that the TC needs to do a little self reflection and figure out why this happened. Was it the lack of a Town Administrator? Poor communication? A divided council? Shouldn't we be able to talk about proposals without insulting each other?

I'm looking at this as a trial run for when we have to engage in real debate about our waste water issues, our water needs and of course, our school facilities crisis.

It's clear that we have a lot of work to do.

Vote.

Tuesday is NH Primary Voting Day.

I admit that I haven't paid close attention to the primary races, mostly because I know who I plan to vote for. If you are undecided, you can tune in as the Democratic candidates for Governor debate tonight at 7pm and the Republican candidates debate tomorrow at 7pm.

What happens in Concord directly impacts us here in Newmarket. If you haven't been paying attention, now is the time to start.

Here are copies of the sample ballots for Tuesday: